And Now I Just Sit In Silence
by powerofthepen123
Summary: And now I just sit in silence / I ponder of something terrifying / 'Cause this time there's no sound to hide behind / I find over the course of our human existence / One thing consists of consistence / And it's that we're all battling fear… – 21 Pilots. Mr. Kowal if you're reading this it's my account. Nothing was plagiarized. Disclaimer: I don't own ADJL.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: 1986

And now I just sit in silence / I ponder of something terrifying / 'Cause this time there's no sound to hide behind / I find over the course of our human existence / One thing consists of consistence / And it's that we're all battling fear… – Twenty One Pilots, "Car Radio"

This was the strangest day of Jonathan Long's eighteen-year-old life.

You realize this now? You just found out that your girlfriend is a dragon and your teenage son came to visit you from the future, yet you only realize how f**king weird your life is now, when the people who want her dead kidnap and blackmail you into giving information about her? He couldn't help but be amazed at his own thought process.

His kidnapper glowered at him from next to the switch that could lower an incredibly terrifying spinning blade.

"I'll give you one more chance," said the dude in a high, squeaky voice that would have been comical if his comrades didn't have helmets made from dragon skulls. "Where are they?! WHERE ARE THE DRAGONS?"

That was the whole issue here. After Jonathan had discovered that fateful note from Susan in his locker – the one explaining her family's true reptilian heritage, complete with holograms of her dad shape-shifting into a giant blue lizard creature and her talking, spell-casting, gambling-addict dog – he'd freaked. Who wouldn't? His entire world had just received a punch to the face, like yeah, just so you know, there's a whole magical underworld in New York City that includes creatures who could claw your face off while they burn you to a crisp, and some of those creatures might just be your future in-laws! Surprise!

But that didn't excuse the way he'd treated his amazing girlfriend over the secret she'd trusted him with. He cringed at the memory of the temper tantrum he'd thrown, screaming at Susan, breaking her heart, calling her a monster, and generally making an a** of himself. She'd looked so shattered. When he realized his mistake while walking home (he'd had to pull over so he wouldn't cause an accident), he'd been furious with himself and desperate to get her back and show her he could be trusted. He probably wasn't the first human to screw around with Susan's feelings, though, so fat chance of that happening.

His girlfriend's trust issues aside, Jonathan wasn't too great at this romance thing and so he'd decided to call a teen advice helpline. The phone operator had hung up on him the minute he said the word dragon, of course…but apparently, she wasn't the only one listening to their conversation. The Huntsclan – the cult of dragon slayers (excuse me, covert police organization) who held him captive now, who apparently wanted to kill all dragons, including dragons like Susan who couldn't shape-shift and just looked human all the time – had been tapping the phone line, traced the call back to Jonathan's address (how did they do that?), drugged, and kidnapped Jonathan.

So now Jonathan was here, tied to a chair with a large spinning blade over his head while a group of dragon slayers tried to force him to give them the ammo needed to…he couldn't finish that mental sentence. The thought of what could happen to Susan at the hands of these people, not to mention Jake and that girl, Jonathan and Susan's future daughter, whose picture had been in her brother's wallet…

Suddenly tears stung Jonathan's eyes and he couldn't breathe past the lump in his throat. His last conversation with Susan flashed through his mind and he wanted so badly to take her in his arms and tell her how sorry he was. If the Huntsclan had their way, the next time Jonathan saw Susan would be at her funeral…if there was even a body left to bury. He remembered Jake's face – his son's face – hoping so badly that his dad would do the right thing but starting to lose faith in Jonathan as quickly as Susan had, and he knew at once that Jake had seen Jonathan scream at her. He flinched guiltily. He remembered the adorable little girl, the daughter he'd never get to meet and whose name he would never even know.

Jonathan didn't know what would happen to his kids. He'd never wanted to hurt them, and they sure as hell deserved better than a dad who they had a damn good reason not to trust. Heck, he didn't even know what would happen to Susan after today…but she wasn't going to die. God help him, Susan would live. She'd become a woman, eventually get married, and have kids of her own…even if they could never be his.

But only if he died in her place.

That was why there wasn't even a doubt in his mind when he screamed at his abductors and his girlfriend's would-be murderers, "I WILL TELL YOU NOTHING!"

And the blade whirred as it came downward. Jonathan closed his eyes and waited to die...and then a blast of fire shot out at the blade, severing it from its fixture on the ceiling of this weird torture center, and a flash of red and gold scales shot overhead on surprisingly powerful wings. Jonathan's eyes widened as he recognized Jake's dark eyes and felt a little chagrined when he remembered the first time he'd ever seen his son in dragon form…had it really been only hours before? He'd screamed and cowered. What a great first impression to make with his kid.

Now, though, he didn't feel any fear. Well, he did – just not toward Jake.

"J-" Jonathan called out to warn Jake's about the laser aimed at Jake's wings, ready to knock him out of the air.

The fourteen-year-old shot him a We're surrounded by dragon slayers; do you really think telling them my name is a smart idea? look and deftly dodged the beam as he caught the now-permanently stopped blade and set it down.

Jonathan decided it would be smart to shut up and let Jake do his thing, no matter how strong that weird dad instinct was to throw himself between the slayers and his son and let those b***ards know exactly what he planned to do to anyone who messed with his child. Even if that child hadn't technically been born yet.

But those b***ards were armed…with lasers. Also, the 'child' he wanted so desperately to protect was currently only four years younger than him (time travel was so weird), a good ten times stronger, possessed clawed hands, and could hock loogies made of fire. Therefore, his paternal instincts could wait.

While the slayers were distracted, Susan slipped behind the chair that still strapped Jonathan in place, quickly freed him, and whispered, "Go. Get to somewhere safe."

He shook his head adamantly, saying a little too loudly, "I'm not leaving you."

A stray slayer overheard him and charged toward the young couple. Susan spun on the man, snarled, and did a roundhouse kick to knock his incredibly morbid helmet off. She kicked him again, so his eye made contact with the steel toe of her boot. He yelped and she grabbed his arm, twisted it behind his back, and shoved him up against the nearest wall as hard as she could. Jonathan could only gape at her, awed and a little bit turned on. Susan didn't even have dragon powers, but she'd just managed to beat up a guy twice her size while he could only stand there helplessly and incompetently.

"Daddy's protective," she explained when she caught him staring. "He's been teaching me how to fight since I was a little girl."

Daddy's protective? Oh, he'd noticed. Even Susan's dog, Fu – who could talk, apparently – had always growled at Jonathan when he came to pick her up for a date. Magical beings seemed to be pretty protective when it came to their families.

He noticed now, too, as 'Daddy', in dragon form, fearlessly fought off a small army of slayers…to save Jonathan's life. Jonathan couldn't help but be a little embarrassed at that. He'd just treated the old man's daughter like crap, yet Mr. Luong was still willing to protect Jonathan.

"Mr…." Jonathan stopped in his tracks, remembering Jake's reaction when Jonathan almost gave the Huntsclan Jake's name.

"It's alright, Jonathan," Lao Shi told him. "The Huntsclan already knows who I am."

"Why are you doing this?" Jonathan couldn't help but ask.

"I couldn't let you die." The blue dragon's voice took a threatening tone, verging on a growl, as he picked up Jonathan (surprisingly gently) and carried him to safety. "But be grateful, for your own sake, that my daughter's safety…not to mention my grandchildren's…is riding on yours." Mr. Luong carefully set Jonathan down on the sand, out of view of any humans.

Jonathan nodded. He understood. Susan and her family…all dragons…were battling fear just as much as he was. They all were. But they'd all come together tonight and overcome old grudges and old anger to save one another's lives.

"And Jonathan? Your daughter's name is Haley."

With that, the dragon turned and flew away…and Jonathan promptly passed out.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: 2006

Don't tell me that I'm wrong / I've walked that road before / And left you on your own / And please believe them when they say / That it's left for yesterday / And the records that I've played / Please forgive me for all I've done… - Imagine Dragons, "I Bet My Life"

Jonathan Long, now thirty-eight years old and married with two kids, stared blearily down into his coffee without actually drinking. His wife Susan came over to him and put a gentle hand on his shoulder, knowing he was upset about something. He smiled at her as his mind flashed back to that unsettling dream, the source of his distress. It was the reason that, although he tried to hide it from her and their children, he'd been having a hard time sleeping for the last twenty years.

He would have been able to put the whole thing out of his mind if it hadn't been for the time traveler, the dream boy who'd claimed to come from the future and to be his and Susan's son. Of course, Jonathan knew the teenager who'd haunted his subconscious for two decades was only a figment of his imagination. But the similarities between the dream boy and his own, very real teenage son were chilling. They had the same black hair, which shouldn't have been so unusual because both boys were half-Chinese. But were the green highlights that hadn't been produced by any dye normal? Jonathan knew they weren't, regardless of what his wife tried to assure him. Or that they had the same name? What about the fact that both boys carried pictures of their younger sisters in their wallets, that they had the same voice? What about the way that he'd been so determined to protect the dream boy from any harm that he, at eighteen years old, would have sacrificed his own life?

What about the intense relief he felt when he woke and saw that his wife and son were still alive? What about the way he sometimes felt on the verge of regretful tears when he thought about the way his dream self always reacted to finding out Susan was a dragon? What about the constant lies that Jake had been telling, the secrets he'd been keeping for months now? The way he could sometimes swear he was hearing wingbeats?

And regardless of what secret his family had or had not been keeping from him, why hadn't they told him? Didn't they trust him? Didn't they know he wouldn't betray them?

Susan took his hand in her own smaller one and squeezed. "Jonathan, honey, you'd better eat breakfast before it gets cold. You have a long day at work."

Jonathan nodded weakly as he sipped his coffee and took a heap of scrambled eggs.

His kids came downstairs. Sweet eight-year-old Haley greeted him and Susan with hugs and kisses while fourteen-year-old Jake merely sat down, kissing his mother on the cheek but barely meeting Jonathan's eyes.

Jonathan tried to catch his son's gaze and almost failed. What he did notice was the sharp tapping of Jake's fingers on the wooden table – too strong and just a hint too loud to be human fingernails. Jonathan dared a look at the boy's hands and saw something that he…well, that he honestly half-expected by now. He wasn't as unobservant as his son believed.

"Hey, Jake, would you mind explaining why you have claws?" he said, trying to keep fear and a hint of shock out of his voice.

Oh, yeah, the dream was definitely real.

Jake finally looked at Jonathan, guilt-edged panic in his eyes and…was that fear?

Jake was just as scared as he was. The teenager quickly retracted his claws like a cat, shaking. The smoke detector beeped loudly and as Jonathan stood to turn it off, he watched his family's reaction to his question.

"Jonathan, I…I can explain!" Susan attempted. "It's, um…it's, well…Jake, you obviously need to trim your nails…" She looked at their son for help.

"Give it up, Mom," said Jake quietly, his expression dejected. "He knows."

"I'm not mad," he reassured them both quickly. "And, Susan, what happened at our high school graduation…I think it's real. And if it is, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. The way I treated you was unacceptable. I will never do that again." He sat back down, taking his trembling wife into his arms. She slowly stopped shaking, but he could still feel her anxious tension.

"I know," she said, looking up at him tentatively. "And I'm sorry I never told you."

"Does this mean Daddy's not leaving us?" asked Haley, looking up at her father in confusion over this reference to something she didn't even know about.

"Haley-hoo, where did you get an idea like that from?" Jonathan demanded, his heart breaking just a little over the fact that his daughter had ever assumed he'd abandon her. And for Jake, who had likely, thanks to whatever strange time travel powers dragons apparently had, seen Jonathan scream at Susan and say the most disgusting things about dragons – the same things the boy probably heard from dragon slayers – that fear would be even stronger.

No wonder his kids hadn't wanted to tell him, if this was the reaction he gave to anything that was even a little bit out of his comfort zone.

"From Jake," Haley replied.

Jonathan looked at the teenager, silently apologizing.

Jake dropped his gaze to the table for a few tense moments, but looked back up at him again soon enough. "Okay, so you're not leaving. Um…thanks? But, Dad, how are you taking this so calmly?"

"I think I'm in shock," Jonathan admitted. "I'll probably pass out soon." He looked at Susan. "That does not mean I'm leaving. It means that my entire world has just been turned inside out and I need some time to absorb that."

"I can relate," Jake volunteered.

Jonathan stared at him.

"Until I was thirteen, I didn't know I was a dragon or that magic even existed. And when I found out, it was only because I'd started shifting involuntarily. And Trix and Spud both know about me. I'm still not sure how they found out. I wasn't even there and I've just never really asked."

"Yeah, about that…" Haley said. "I may have overheard something…"

"What?" Jonathan asked.

"Jake, did you ever tell Mom about that thing where Rotwood got a picture of you in dragon form without you knowing?" the little girl asked.

Susan's eyes blazed with protective, maternal outrage, jerking forward and out of his arms. "He did what?!"

"Mom, it's fine. I'm fine," Jake tried to soothe her. "Magic wasn't exposed, we're all alive and in one piece, nobody was experimented on, and there wasn't magical Armageddon. It's all good."

"No, Jake, what you are is lucky! You could have been killed!" Susan protested.

"What?!" Jonathan demanded, panicking. He knew virtually nothing about dragons, but he did know his son and he couldn't stand the thought of Jake being hurt.

"There's a lot of politics and history that goes into it, honey," Susan told him. "I'll explain later."

Jonathan nodded, a little surprised by the revelation that dragons even had politics or history.

"Let me finish the story," Haley whined. "Okay. So what happened was, Rotwood took this picture of Jake – which was really blurry and no one could actually tell what it was – and he was just so determined to have undeniable evidence that magic existed that he basically put a bounty on Jake's head."

Susan's eyes flashed and Jonathan got the definite impression that, had she been able to do so, she would have burnt Professor Rotwood to a crisp by now.

"He offered a six hundred dollar reward for…you know, proof," Jake explained, picking up where his sister had left off.

"I'm liking this teacher less and less," Jonathan growled.

"And of course this wasn't something I wanted to get involved in," Jake told them.

"And you didn't get involved, right?" Susan asked pointedly.

The kids exchanged glances.

"Jacob Luke Long…" she said in exasperation. "You know how risky that is!"

"I know, Mom, but just hear me out. Okay?"

Susan conceded reluctantly.

"I didn't have dragon training…" Jake continued before being interrupted by Jonathan.

"What's dragon training? Why would you need to be trained in how to be a dragon?"

"Because we're not, like, born knowing how to fly or breathe fire or anything like that," Jake explained. "And because dragons are basically the protectors of the magical world. And dragon slayers still exist. What do you think would happen if I was attacked by one of them without knowing how to fight back?"

Jonathan shuddered at the thought. "So for you, that's Grandpa? He's the one training you? Because this would explain why you work so much and never get paid."

"Yeah," Jake said. "And that – the fact that he's the one training me - is technically illegal…"

"Since when are there human laws governing issues pertaining specifically to dragons?" Jonathan asked. "Does the government know?"

"Honestly?" Haley said. "I assume they do and are trying to hide it from everyone."

"Those aren't human laws, sweetie," Susan told him. "Dragons have our own government with rules and laws and elected officers, just like humans. We just don't go around telling humans about it. There's a lot more of you than there are of us. Not to mention the fact that you have incredibly advanced war machines that dragons never bothered to develop – our bodies are our weapons. And there's sphinx hair, which I'll explain later. What you need to know about that is, if you ever see a brightly glowing greenish net, you don't let it get near my father or the kids under any circumstances."

He nodded. "So sphinx hair is to dragons as kryptonite is to Superman?"

"Yes," Susan confirmed. "But I – and all other latent dragons – am immune."

"Can we get back to the story?" complained Haley.

"Just one question," said Jonathan. "Jake, if it's illegal for your grandfather to teach you about being a dragon…how is he getting away with it?"

"The Dragon Council – yeah, I know, our government is called the Dragon Council – lets us work together, even though they almost never let family train family, because the number one threat to the magical world is this dude who calls himself the Dark Dragon. He wants to kill all humans, take over the world, and have other dragons be his gestapo. Which the rest of us were seriously not okay with. And until a few decades ago, no dragon had ever fought this guy and lived."

"Lao Shi was the first," Jonathan realized.

"Exactly," Susan replied. "Dad was allowed to train Jake because Dad and the Council both feared the Dark Dragon would target Jake out of revenge. Who better to train him than one of the greatest war heroes the magical world has ever known?"

"And Grandpa was right," Jake added. "But that's a whole 'nother story."

"I'm going to try not to have a heart attack right now," Jonathan muttered, massaging his temples. "So, back on track."

"Where was I?" Jake mused. "Oh, right. So the day Rotwood put this bounty on my head, I didn't have training. I just went over to Trixie's house and we just played some video games. At this point, I was totally human as far as she and Spud were concerned and I kind of didn't want it to stay that way…but magic is a secret for a reason. I got that.

"Anyway, at some point we accidentally broke this really expensive vase in her living room. Her dad gave it to her mom for their first anniversary and it cost hundreds of dollars so of course she freaked out. We thought it was one of a kind until Spud pointed out that actually, no, it was one in an identical set of one hundred pieces. And we decided to try buying another one. The problem was, we were three broke thirteen-year-olds."

"And that's how you got involved with the reward," Susan concluded. "You needed the money for a friend."

"Yeah, pretty much," Jake admitted. "I didn't want to at first. So we tried to raise the money in other ways and only ended up with, like, ten dollars."

"So then you decided to resort to drastic measures," Jonathan concluded. He was a little touched by his son's loyalty to this girl, but at the same time exasperated because the boy had put himself in danger to help her.

"Yeah," Jake admitted. "Just little stuff, not really anything that could put my life in danger if that's what you're worried about. Selling a few loose scales, some nail clippings…"

"But Jake, that did put your life in danger!" scolded Susan. "You sold your DNA to a man who intended to use it to expose the existence of our species, possibly causing World War Three or worse."

Jonathan flinched guiltily, remembering the dream that he now knew was real. He'd put Susan in just as much danger, once upon a time.

"What happened?" Jonathan pressed. "Did you get the reward?"

"No. But I did end up giving Rotwood some...uh...pretty undeniable proof that dragons exist."

"Wait a second," Susan interrupted. "Last year...there was gossip that a human scientist had captured a dragon. I always assumed it was a hoax or a cruel joke, but who would joke about that?"

"I'm getting to that," Jake said hastily, exchanging a quick, conspiratorial glance with Haley.

"WHAT?!" Susan and Jonathan screamed in unison.

"So after I showed Rotwood the scales and claws, he was just like -" Jake paused and assumed an exaggerated German accent. "'Mr. Long, zeese are clearly fake, dragon claws glow in ze dark and 'ave ze faintest odor of lavender' and it's pretty obvious that that's inaccurate. Just like everything else I've ever heard Rotwood say about magical creatures. Like, human mythology gets a fair amount of stuff wrong, but this..." He shook his head in disgust. "So then I argued with this guy about whether the tissue that I'd literally taken from my own body was real. Eventually I gave up, went back home, explained the situation to Haley..."

"And I happen to like Trixie, so I agreed to help," Haley said. "We went up to the roof with a camera..."

Poor Susan looked as terrified as Jonathan felt.

"I shifted to dragon form, Haley photographed me, and I went to Rotwood..."

"Jake, sweetie, are you trying to give me a heart attack?" Susan said, pressing her fingers to her forehead.

"Sorry Mom. Anyway, I argued with Rotwood again..."

"Seriously?!" Haley said.

"I know! He said the photos were clearly faked, that no human could get that close to a dragon and live - pretty insulting stuff, right? And I just gave up, walked out. On the way home, I heard someone scream for help. Mom, you know Fin?"

"Finley O'Dwyer, Fu's leprechaun friend? This was around the time of the gang war about leprechaun gold, correct?"

"Yeah. So it turned out Fin was being attacked by..." Jake paused, thinking. Not remembering, more like if he'd just realized there was something he didn't want his parents knowing. "By Huntsgirl. And I couldn't just leave a friend like that, could I? Because let's face it, the dude didn't stand a chance on his own. So I flew Fin to safety - at which point, she set her sights on me."

Susan's eye twitched, her body tensed, and her hands twitched as if claws were trying to extend from her nail beds. Suddenly Jonathan knew exactly what a mother lion looked like when she was preparing to defend her cub. "That bitch. If I ever see her murderous little face again -"

"Mom!" Jake said, almost nervously. Normally, Jonathan and Susan were careful not to swear in front of their children. But it was more than that. Jake almost seemed to be hiding something. "Let me finish. So the last thing I remember is being pretty much thrown into the side of a building. Next thing I know after that, Rotwood's throwing ice water on me to wake me up and I'm laying down - still in dragon form - in the back of this armed car he keeps in his garage-lab thingy."

Susan looked like she very much wanted to kill someone, and Jonathan felt the same way. No one hurt their kids and got away with it.

"I figured out what was going on pretty fast and panicked. Started spitting out fire everywhere, not like I was aiming for him..."

"You should have," Jonathan growled.

"No. I don't like Rotwood. Never have. But that's just cruel."

"So is kidnapping a child in order to sell him to the government and reveal his biggest secret to the world in order to make money off him and earn back your scientific street cred, putting his life - and those of his entire species - in danger in the process," countered Haley.

"If anything like this happens ever again, Jake, I want you to promise me that you will aim your fire at whomever is hurting you," Susan told him firmly. "I don't care if it's fair. I care that you're safe."

"I..." Jake sighed. "Okay, Mom. So Rotwood freaked and pushed some button that closed the window I'd been hurling fire spitballs out of. I couldn't melt it, couldn't break it, couldn't even scratch it. I was completely trapped, getting claustrophobic, scared out of my mind, convinced it was the end of the world and we were all gonna die. Then Rotwood started driving to the Hoboken Scientific Institute in Jersey, to...you know. Gramps and Fu followed us in their car..."

"Just to be clear, Fu can talk. Right?" Jonathan asked, wanting to get caught up.

"Among other things, yes," Susan replied. "Jake, your grandfather knew about this?"

"Yeah, and I'm not sure how," Jake said, running a hand through that naturally green-and-black hair. "Like ten minutes later, we arrived at the Hoboken and Rotwood was talking all big to the press. I was still in the back of the car, still freaking out, still in dragon form. Trix and Spud showed up for some reason and just walked up to me, completely chill. So at first I was like, 'Spud! Trixie! What are you doing here?' Then I decided it probably wasn't a good idea for me to let them know who I was. So I went all 'rawr' and Trixie just looked at me and rolled her eyes and said not to bother because she already knew it was me. And Spud was just standing there, all chill but lowkey trying not to stare at me. Which I, y'know, appreciate. Then they helped me escape without exposing us all and Gramps and Fu showed up and gave us a ride home."

"That still doesn't explain how they found out," Jonathan couldn't help but observe.

"I'll tell that part," Haley volunteered. "Spud and Trixie showed up here, wanting to talk to Jake about something. They wouldn't tell me what and I honestly didn't care. But I figured Jake would be back soon - this was maybe half an hour after we took the pictures - so I said sure they could come in, and they went up to Jake's room and waited. I wasn't trying to listen - what did I care? - but with our hearing..."

"What did they want to talk about?" Jake asked.

Haley shrugged. "Something about money. Trixie seemed happy about it, looking back, so I'm going to assume she paid for the vase."

"Not possible," Jake said dismissively. "She could have gotten more money. But not enough to afford that vase."

"So she never bought a new one?"

"No - I bought it for her. Fin gave me some gold as a thank you for saving him and I bartered that."

"Whatever. Then Trixie gasped a little and there were a few awkward silent moments. Then they were both talking about how they didn't believe it. They started saying something about a dragon and you and that was probably when they found out. I think you still had those pictures downloaded on your computer. They probably found the file and figured it out."

"Makes sense. What I still don't get is how I ended up in Rotwood's lab. I'm guessing Ro - I mean Huntsgirl, though."

"Jake, Huntsgirl didn't..." Haley bit her lip. "There's something I'm leaving out, something I overheard. I'm sorry. I just didn't want you to get hurt."

"What?"

"At some point, Spud asked what it meant and how his mom's lasagna fit into all this. That part, I feel like I misheard somehow..."

"You didn't," Jake told her, not clarifying what he meant by that.

Haley raised an eyebrow. "Oooookay. So Trixie responded, and she had this really guilty and sad inflection in her voice. She said, and I quote, 'I'll tell you what it means. It means we just sold our best friend to Rotwood for cash.'"

Jake, Susan, and Jonathan all sat back, stunned.

"Well, I...uh...I don't really know what to say to that," Jake said, trying to process this new information. "I mean, it's obvious they had no idea who I was. And the only information about dragons that they had was what Rotwood told them, which wasn't accurate at all. It didn't talk about us as people, with families and friends and a whole government and culture and history and everything. So, with no other information, that's probably how my friends saw me, as subhuman. When they...when they sold me, I mean. How were they supposed to know any better?"

Susan sighed. "Okay. Fair enough, Jake. But be suspicious. I don't want to see you hurt."

Jonathan suddenly couldn't look his family in the eye. He'd hurt Susan just as badly as Trixie and Spud had hurt Jake, if not worse. He'd been the one to instill in her this mistrust toward humans, the selfish bastard who'd broken her heart and her ability to trust. And his entire family almost paid the price with their lives for his prejudice and a seemingly small mistake he'd made. Susan, her father, and their extended family could have been killed. Jake and Haley never would have been born.

It was his fault.

It didn't matter whether the two kids had known any better. It didn't matter whether Jonathan had known any better. Not when lives were at stake.

"I trust them, Mom," Jake insisted. "They saved my life. They've helped me out with dragon stuff. When they found out I was a dragon, they were completely fine with that. They've always kept my secret and never freaked out, no matter what weird magical stuff happened around us. Not all of us have that."

Susan pursed her lips, stiffening visibly. Their son's words had struck a nerve in her.

"I'm going to ask them for their side of the story," Jake continued.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

I'm never gonna look back / Woah, never gonna give it up / No, just don't wake me now / This is gonna be the best day of my life...-American Authors, "Best Day Of My Life"

Needless to say, Susan and Jonathan called themselves and their kids in sick for school and work, respectively. They had too much else to do. Haley, surprisingly, didn't give even a murmur of a protest.

After the awkward conversation re: how Trixie and Spud had actually found out about Jake being a dragon, no one really knew what else to do so the family of four just sat around staring at each other.

Finally, Haley spoke. "We should tell Grandpa and Fu that Daddy knows about us now."

"They're going to freak," Jake warned his sister.

"Your father never liked me," Jonathan told Susan. "And I guess the dog doesn't, either."

"They're…getting used to you," Susan said to him encouragingly. "Dragon fathers are just like any other – no guy in the world is good enough for their little girl, no matter how old she is. But dragons are also instinctively more protective and territorial than humans, and when it comes to their kids marrying humans it's only natural to worry. And Fu helped raise me after my mother died, so he's like a second father to me. You think I'm not just as scared of what could happen with Jake, if that girl he's been seeing ever finds out what he is? Or Haley, if she ever brings a human home?"

Wait, what girl? Jonathan was intrigued, but he'd investigate later.

"Why?" he asked. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"Um, Dad?" Jake said, not looking at him.

At that moment, Jonathan remembered exactly why he shouldn't be asking that. At eighteen years old, he had been the worst thing that could happen to a teenage dragon who told their partner what they were. And the last thing in the world he wanted was to see that same look of devastation and betrayal on either of his kids' faces someday.

When Susan gave him that letter twenty years ago, Jonathan had been a scared kid who didn't know what the hell was going on…but that didn't change the fact that his girlfriend, the girl he'd already considered marrying someday, had trusted him with a secret that was incredibly important to her and his first reaction had been to deliberately hurt her and stereotype her people based on lies he'd been told about them by people who were just as ignorant as he'd been. It had to have taken Susan awhile to trust him again afterwards.

If someone ever did the same thing to Jake or Haley, he'd never be able to look at that person again without wanting to punch them in the face a little.

Regardless of anything, though, Lao Shi and Fu needed to know that Jonathan knew what they – and the rest of their family – were. It wouldn't be fair to them otherwise, even if he suspected that at least a few of Susan's relatives still referred to her as 'the one who married a human.'

Besides, he wanted to make something of a fresh start with his fathers-in-law.

Did he just mentally refer to a magical talking dog, who had no blood relation to his wife (or Jonathan was pretty sure, at least), as his father-in-law?

Yes, yes he had. Well, some families were fun like that and you just had to get used to it.

So Susan and Haley left the room to fill Fu and Lao in on what had happened that morning, leaving Jonathan and Jake alone together. They stared at one another silently.

Unfortunately, neither one had never been good with silence, and they started talking at once.

"Dad, I'm really-"

"What does shape shifting feel like?"

"Wait, what?"

Jonathan flushed, embarrassed. "I mean, um…Jake, if you're not comfortable with this…"

"No, it's fine," Jake insisted. "Um…it's pretty fast. There's just a rush of adrenaline, stuff growing, a bunch of heat, and then it's over. It's not painful or anything, if that's what you were wondering."

Okay, Jonathan's thirteen-year-old son was being more mature about this than he was.

"So, about that girl your mother mentioned…"

"Oh my god. I never even should have told Mom about her."

"What's her name?"

"Rose."

"How long have you two known each other?"

"Since the beginning of the school year, because that's when she transferred to Millard Fillmore."

"When was your first date?"

"Last fall."

"What did you two do together?"

"The first time I got her to notice me was the school dance. So we, uh, danced. She went with another guy to make me jealous, and I went with another girl for the same reason."

"Does either of them know that?"

"Jasmine said she kinda figured. Brad hates me now."

"Oh man. I remember the same thing happening with your mom. Although, looking back, some of the guys she rejected for me probably weren't human."

"Yeah, Gramps really wanted her to date another dragon guy. Or at least, someone who wasn't human."

"That's…understandable," Jonathan admitted. "Speaking of, is Rose human?"

"Yeah."

"Please tell me she doesn't know that you're not."

"Um…she doesn't."

"Jakeroo, did you know that you're a really bad liar?"

"Um…"

"How did she take it?"

"Surprisingly well, actually."

"Thank God," Jonathan muttered under his breath, knowing perfectly well that Jake would still be able to hear him.


	4. Chapter 4

This is gospel for the fallen ones / Locked away in permanent slumber / Assembling their philosophies / From pieces of broken memories...-Panic! At The Disco, "This Is Gospel"

Ten minutes after Susan made her phone call, Jake suddenly looked up. "Sounds like Fu and Gramps are here."

"The doorbell hasn't even rung yet," protested Jonathan.

"Heightened hearing. They're coming up the driveway now."

Jonathan peered out the living room window as his father-in-law rang the bell. Jake was right, and that shouldn't have surprised him as much as it did. He took a breath as he opened the door, knowing Lao Shi wouldn't be happy with the news that Jonathan was now aware of his secret.

It had been twenty years since Jonathan had betrayed Susan to the Huntsclan, but if the same thing had happened to Jake with this girl, he knew he wouldn't be able to forgive her and he'd always hold some suspicion that the girl, Rose, was playing with his son's heart. Besides, for all Jonathan knew, dragons could live hundreds of years. Two decades wouldn't be that long to a dragon.

"Daughter's husband," said Lao Shi coolly, regarding him with a gaze that clearly said _you break my daughter's heart, I break_ you. Fu replicated the glare, but Jonathan had to admit it was a hell of a lot more intimidating coming from someone who could breathe fire.

Jonathan smiled shakily. "Good to see you, Lao Shi, Fu. Can I take your coats?"

He noticed too late that they weren't wearing any. Thankfully, Lao Shi simply ignored him. Susan and Haley came downstairs.

"Hi Grandpa," Haley said, throwing her arms around the old man's waist. The hint of fire drained from Lao Shi's face as he smiled warmly at his granddaughter.

" _Gwai Neoi,_ good to see you," he told her warmly. **(a/n: according to an online forum for people learning Cantonese, this means something like 'little girl' and is used as a term of endearment for children. if anyone speaks cantonese, especially if you're a native speaker or learned the language growing up, and has a different/better term for me to use, please let me know)** "So what's this about your father learning a certain secret?"

Jake coughed self-consciously, rubbing a hand up and down his neck. "That would be my fault."

"Gods dammit, kid, what did you do?" Fu asked.

"It was nothing! I was just nervous and my claws kind of..."

"So it wasn't about the, you know, that thing that happened back in the eighties?"

"Jake, Fu Dog, we all know about _the thing that happened in the eighties,_ " Lao Shi informed them reproachfully. "Young dragon, Beyonce Timberlake is a terrible fake name."

" _I_ don't know what happened!" whined Haley, letting go of her grandfather and looking around suspiciously at her family.

"For the record it was not my idea," Fu said.

"Fu, you don't need to throw me under the bus like that," complained Jake.

"I'm not exactly clear on the details, but I assume time travel was involved," Jonathan mused.

"Jake, first the reward and now this?" Susan shook her head. "We will talk about this later, young man."

"Time travel was involved," Fu admitted. "And I _may_ have taught the kid how to use the hourglass, but actually going back to 1986 was all Jake's idea."

Lao Shi swore in Cantonese. Susan glared at her father, and the old man quickly apologized and offered a quarter to the swear jar. Jonathan had never understood why they had such a thing - after all, he and Susan kept their speech pretty clean, and while he was sure Jake used just as much profanity as any other teenager, the boy at least abstained from doing it at home. But now he understood. His wife had been raised by a dragon and a talking dog who cussed like sailors. Just not in English.

"We'll need to see if there were any consequences to the trip, if anything was altered in the space-time continuum," Susan announced. "With time travel, even small mistakes can lead to huge catastrophes."

"Agreed, and believe me, it'll never happen again," Jake said.

"I still don't know what happened," Haley complained.

"I'll tell you later," Jake told his sister.

"We also need to discuss what happened with Trixie and Spud," Susan said.

Lao Shi and Fu exchanged glances.

"Uhh, sorry, no idea what you're talking about," Fu lied uncomfortably.

"You know, Fu Dog, if you hadn't said that I would have believed you really didn't," Susan sighed. "But I've known you since I was a little girl. You're a terrible liar, I have no idea how you ever made it as a con artist."

Jonathan almost choked on his cup of lukewarm coffee. " _Con artist?!"_

" _Ex-_ con artist," Fu corrected. "I'm reformed, thank you very much."

"You know da - darn well what I'm talking about, Fu," Susan accused the talking dog. "And I'm guessing so does my dad. How did you find out my son's friends _sold him to their teacher, who was bent on exposing the magical world_?!" Her voice had begun to raise in aggravation.

"Susan, we didn't feel there was any need for you to know," Lao Shi said apologetically.

"They never told me either," Jake volunteered.

"You _what?!_ " Jonathan demanded. "I can understand not telling me and Haley, and telling Susan was wrong but honestly understandable..."

" _Understandable?!"_ Susan sputtered.

"...but not telling Jake? Why?"

"At the time, it was more important that Jake got home safely and in one piece," Lao Shi explained. "Which could very well have happened. After that, Fu and I talked it over, and decided that simply coming to us for help and confessing what they'd done showed that Trixie and Spud could be trusted. It couldn't have been easy, not only to face their best friend's grandfather when they knew his life was in danger, but also when that grandfather was a dragon himself and they'd always been told that dragons were savage beasts? Obviously, since they knew Jake was one, Spud and Trixie had some indication that dragons were not as they'd been led to believe, but they were so new to...everything back then, that they could very well have been in shock, unable to truly process what they'd learned."

Jonathan could relate.

"That said," Fu interjected, "We _did_ give them an...ultimatum of sorts."

"This can't be good," Jake grumbled. "What did you say?"

"That if either of them ever broke your trust again, we would not only tell you they'd sold you, but also wipe their memories of everything magical they'd ever seen. And I...may have dropped a few names from my criminal days..."

"Fu, I'm not exactly thrilled with those kids right now," Susan interrupted. "But was that last part _really_ necessary?"

"C'mon, Susie, you know that I would have done the same thing if it were you instead of Jake," the talking dog said affectionately. "It's called being family. So, Jake do your friends know that _you_ know?"

"Not yet," Jake admitted. "And I can understand why they did, and I'm not mad, so _no memory wiping_."

Lao Shi scoffed.

"I'm serious! It's been months now, and they haven't done anything to show that they don't deserve our trust."

"Dad, you made a deal," Susan scolded her father. "Now you have to hold up your end of the bargain."

"I thought you were angry at Jake's friends," Fu said accusingly.

"I am," Susan replied. "But I know another human who did something very similar once...and I'm willing to forgive. Humans can learn from their mistakes."

Everyone's eyes shifted to Jonathan. He stared at the floor, suddenly unable to look any of his family in the eye.

Haley looked up at the other magical creatures, puzzled. "What did Dad do? Is this about whatever it is that happened at his and Mom's high school graduation? Or the time travel - oh..."

"Yeah, _oh,_ " Jake said.

"I know I'll never be able to take it back, but I truly am sorry," Jonathan said, pulling his wife close. He was never more grateful to have her than now, now that he knew how close he'd once come to losing her.

"I know," Susan said, turning to kiss him on the cheek. "And honey, it's been twenty years. No one was hurt. I forgave you a long time ago, and I'm happy that you know the truth now."

Jake and Haley looked away awkwardly at their parents' open attraction to one another.

"So what exactly did Daddy do back then?" Haley asked, clearly impatient at being the only one not in the know. She wasn't the only one.

"Your mother wrote me a letter explaining that she was a dragon, with undeniable proof," Jonathan said, letting go of Susan and bending down to his daughter's level. He hated knowing he was about to break her heart, especially knowing that some boy or girl could eventually hurt Haley just as bad as Jonathan had hurt her mother. He never wanted to see that look of devastation on her or Jake's faces. "And I...I didn't take it very well. I made a very bad mistake. I broke up with Mommy, and she almost got very badly hurt. But she was okay, and I'm so, so grateful she took me back."

Haley thought this over. "I know there's more to it than that, but nobody except Jake and maybe Fu Dog will tell me, so I'll just ask later."

"I'm not saying anything," Jake told his sister smugly.

" _Jaaaaake_!" she whined.

"I'll tell you when you're older, kiddo," Fu offered a compromise to the little girl. Haley considered this and agreed.

Watching how the kids interacted with their grandfather and his talking dog - God, he was never going to get used to that - Jonathan felt a twinge of jealousy rise in his stomach. Clearly, these two had acted as father figures of a sort to both Jake and Haley. Jonathan should have had that role, and he'd been missing out on it for a long time because he hadn't known his kids' secret. Was it too late to start over with them? To regain their trust?

"Anyway, we just came over to make sure Jonathan wasn't reacting badly," Lao Shi said. "And it looks like he's doing just fine so..."

"I have a question that hasn't been answered yet," Jonathan interrupted. "Jake, what were you really doing that night, at the ball game?"

"Remember that thing that Fu and I were carrying with us when we traveled back in time? The blue amulet thing? That was actually a time travel medallion. It's called the Euchronos Hourglass. A dragon slayer had gotten ahold of it and I was trying to get it back. I mean, imagine if he'd used it to go back in time a few thousand years, with the advanced technology that dragon slayers have today, and killed like five dragons. Just five. That would indirectly kill their kids before they could have any. And their grandkids. And their great-grandkids...the Huntsclan could use that thing to kill off thousands of magical creatures before they were even born. And it was my job to keep it away from them, so that doesn't happen."

Jonathan didn't know what to say. His mouth just opened and shut for a few minutes, letting out no more than gasping air. After a minute, he spoke. "You're ungrounded. From anything ever."

"No he's not," Susan protested. "He's just ungrounded for that. This means nothing about future groundings, we just can't punish him for doing his job."

"Fair enough," Jonathan said. He ran a hand through his hair, taking a shaky, scared breath. "Jake, I'm sorry. If I'd known, I would never have..."

"Dad, I know and it's fine," Jake said, smiling.

"You could have died! You all could have died, and I grounded Jake because I didn't know...oh my god. That's...that's terrifying. I swear, I never would have..."

"Dad, we know and it's getting annoying," Jake told him.

"Right, sorry." He couldn't even look at his son.


End file.
